WE STARTED A FIRE; “WE BURN NOW”

4,812 civilians and 2,219 Security Force personnels have lost their lives since 2001 due to the violence in Jammu and Kashmir. The valley known for apples, cashmere wool, houseboats and saffron is suffering endlessly in curfews, stone pelting, protests, open gun fires, arrests and violence. Kashmir, India, Pakistan, China, and the UN all have their own stances and explanations for the Kashmir issue, but after all have been said and done, why does it still remains an issue? Many questions and doubts arise in our minds; through this article I express a few of them…..
Ask anyone in the Kashmir valley about his nationality and it is very unlikely that you’d get to hear, “I am an Indian”. Despite being an Indian state, most Kashmiris today demand for an independent Kashmir. India has contributed tremendously to the development of Jammu and Kashmir in terms of economic development and infrastructure; social development and infrastructure; and administrative development. Why then does Kashmir seek independence? Is it because the military presence of the Indian Army is more of harassment than protection? Don’t they realise that it is necessary to make sure that terrorism does not raise its ugly head in the region yet again?
Even after 63 years of accession of Jammu& Kashmir to India, Pakistan states the issue is controversial, which they choose to term as fraudulent. Hadn’t it been made clear that the Indian troops had landed in Kashmir only after the Accession had been agreed to and duly signed, but kept from being made public because of some political reasons? Why does Pakistan still suffer in doubt? Is it because they refuse to see the truth as it is inconvenient to them.
The Instrument of Accession was signed by 500 princely states. Why then were there special terms and conditions in the accession signed by Kashmir? Why was the accession of Kashmir not dealt with by Home Minister Sardar Vallabhai Patel but by Pt. Jawaharlal Nehru himself? While the accession of all other states was unconditional why was the accession of Jammu and Kashmir to be decided through the democratic method of free and impartial plebiscite?
Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru made the case worse by implementing article 370 to the state, thus giving it a special status which no other Indian state has ever enjoyed. It says that the decisions taken in the Indian Parliament will not be applicable in the region of J&K unless stated. Even as J & K was allowed to draft its own State Constitution (separate from the Indian Constitution), the J&K state was permitted to have its own flag. In a nation like India, where the Tri-colour is regarded so high that permission has to be sought from the court to hoist it publicly, isn’t it gross disrespect for a state to have its own flag that it regards higher than the nation’s flag?
With Sheikh Abdullah as the state’s Wazeer-e-Azam, the supreme dominance of the Kashmir Valley and its Muslims over Jammu & Kashmir state and the suppression of Jammu and Ladakh had begun. Why do we forget that Jammu and Kashmir is not only about the Kashmir valley which is a Muslim dominated region? J&K has a population of over 1,01,43,700, of which 67% is Muslims, 29% of Hindus and rest 4% of Buddhists and Sikhs. People in Jammu and Ladakh still want to remain Indians.
The list of questions though endless, there is only one answer that I, any Kashmiri or every Indian would love to listen to
“Peace Prevails in our Paradise

WRITTEN BY
RAHUL KAKROO
EDITTED BY
NISHA BORA